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Nigerian
award-winning authors are leading the country’s charge in this year’s
Commonwealth Writers’ Prize. Helon Habila and E.C. Osondu, both past
winners of the Caine Prize for African Writing, are contenders for the
Best Book and Best First Book respectively for the Africa region in the
awards.

They are joined on
the regional shortlists by debut novelists, Chioma Okereke and Uzoma
Uponi. All four writers are based abroad. None of their shortlisted
books has so far been published locally.

The regional list
is dominated by South Africa, with eight shortlisted writers. Aminatta
Forna is the sole flag-bearer for Sierra Leone, for her novel, ‘The
Memory of Love’. The shortlists, released by The Commonwealth
Foundation, which manages the awards, was established in 1987 to
recognise the finest fiction by established and upcoming writers across
the world.

US-based E.C.
Osondu, winner of the 2008 Caine Prize, is shortlisted for ‘Voice of
America’, his debut collection of short stories, which has been
published to much acclaim in Britain and the United States. In a review
of the book published in The Observer (UK), Zimbabwean writer Petina
Gappah praised Osondu for “creating a vivid and fully imagined world
that is uniquely his own. It is a wonderful achievement.” Vying with
Osondu in the Best First Book category of the Commonwealth Writers
Prize are UK-based Chioma Okereke for ‘Bitter Leaf’; and Canada-based
Uzoma Uponi, who gets the nod for her novel, ‘Colour Blind’.

Perhaps the most
high profile Nigerian contender is Helon Habila, who makes the
shortlist for his third novel, ‘Oil on Water’, an exploration of the
Niger-Delta crisis. The Guardian (UK) noted that the novel is “topical
and urgent, as it ambitiously tackles the collision between the oil
companies, the people of the Delta whose lands are exploited and
ruined, the military who patrol the region, the militants or freedom
fighters who are there to disrupt business as usual, and the media who
are supposed to observe and record the ‘truth’”.

Habila’s first
novel, ‘Waiting for an Angel’, won the Commonwealth Prize for Best
First Book (Africa Region) in 2003. Earlier, in 2001, he became
Nigeria’s first Caine winner for his short story, ‘Love Poems’. A
former NEXT columnist, Habila currently teaches Creative Writing at
George Mason University in Washington D.C, United States.

The four regions
qualified for the competition are: ‘Africa’, ‘Caribbean and Canada’,
‘South Asia and Europe’ and ‘South East Asia and Pacific’. Every year,
prizes are awarded in the four regions for Best Book and Best First
Book. Eight regional winners then go on to vie for the overall prizes.

Past Nigerian
winners of the prestigious award include: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
whose debut novel ‘Purple Hibiscus’ won the regional prize for Best
First Book (Africa) in 2005 and also went on to win the overall prize
in the same category.

Jesuit Priest and
Writer, Uwem Akpan’s debut collection of stories, ‘Say You Are One of
Them’, secured the Regional Prize (Africa) for Best First Book in 2009;
and then went on to more acclaim by being selected for the widely
influential Oprah Book Club. Nigeria’s most recent winner of the
Commonwealth Writers’ Prize is Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani, who clinched the
2010 regional award for her novel, ‘I Do Not Come To You By Chance’.

The prize money for overall winners are £10,000 for Best Book and
£5,000 for Best First Book respectively. The regional winners will be
announced on March 3, while overall winners will be announced at the
Sidney Writers’ Festival, Australia, in May.